


A Proper Chance

by endemictoearth



Category: My Mad Fat Diary
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 06:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8316553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endemictoearth/pseuds/endemictoearth
Summary: Based on a prompt from @i-dream-of-emus: PROMPT free to a good home! Sooooo… what would have happened if Rae had stormed off into the loo, NOT had a stain on her skirt, come out to see Finn waiting for her and sat back down with him? He wouldn’t have have had to punch Big G, and wouldn’t have found out what she had been putting up with. He wouldn’t have gone up in her estimations, for sticking up for her. 
This is just a bit of me wanting to see what might have happened, but without putting them too far off their course. (AND without ripping off @adaftmyriad‘s fabulous fic Chill Your Lambrini, which is such a great re-imagining of this scene. Only she still HAS the stain … )





	

Rae sat in the stall, head against the toilet tissue dispenser. Well, she’d certainly fucked that up. Just like she’d fucked everything up. Her stupid fucking hormones. She supposed that since they’d been on holiday for a nearly a year, it only made sense that they’d come back with a vengeance. Mega-periods begat mega-bitchiness.

Oh, speaking of. It had been longer than an hour since she changed her tampon. Things were feeling … iffy. She rifled through her bag, looking for another, but didn’t find one. “Oh, shit!” she muttered in alarm.

She stood up, opened the stall door and glanced round for a dispenser. There was one on the back wall under the window, and Rae breathed a sigh of relief. She went over to inspect it and noted it was 20p for a tampon. She shrugged. Seemed like a messed-up economy: that a song was the same price as some feminine hygiene. She opened the velcro on her wallet, wincing at the ripping noise, and was alarmed to see she didn’t have an 20ps. Would her agony never end? Was she meant to embarrass herself every moment of her wretched existence?

She had to do something, or she’d be wearing a jam stain all the way home. Why she had thought a white denim miniskirt was a good idea … must have been some more of those bloody hormones. Ha. Bloody.

Peeking her head out the lavatory door, she saw the lads had buggered off, all except for Finn. He sat there, head down, tapping a pen against his open notebook. She bit her lip, torn between sneaking out and asking him to lend her a coin.

The woman who worked behind the counter had come over to use the loo, and saw her crouching in the doorway. “Everythin’ alright, pet?” she asked, possibly a little wary at the sight of a teenage girl skulking around her place of employ.

Rae straightened up a bit, then whispered, “D’ya have change for a pound?”

The woman smiled in sympathy and nodded. “Time of the month? Sure thing, love. I’ll be back in a tick.”

Nodding in gratitude, Rae slunk back inside the bathroom to wait next to the dispenser.

With the short time she had before the woman came back, she pondered the fact that Finn had stayed. He stayed, when everyone else had gone. What did that mean? Did it mean anything? If she had gotten a stain, she mused that she would have been too embarrassed to think about what his presence meant; she only would have been intent on escape.

She chewed her lip thoughtfully, and startled when the woman (her name tag read “Maureen”) opened the door. She tripped across the floor to receive the small stack of coins. Rae smiled gratefully and said, “Thanks so much!” for good measure, and fairly sprinted to the machine on the wall.

Having taken care of business, feeling decidedly less squishy and squelchy, Rae washed her hands, straightened her leather jacket, took a deep breath, and looked at herself in the mirror. Stared herself straight in the eyes and said, “Some days it’s embarrassing how good I look.” Then, she rolled her eyes and walked back out in to the chippy, only to find Finn STILL sitting at the table.

“You still here?” she asked, without thinking.

Finn twisted in his seat and gave her a look of unguarded surprise. Eyes half-lidded, mouth half-open, he quickly sat up and tugged nervously on the neck of his t-shirt. “Ermmm, yeah. Thought maybe you’d fallen in,” he said, laughing uncomfortably at his bad joke.

Rae froze, but then shrugged, set her jaw, and said, “Yeah, I was in there taking a massive shit. Probably lost about half a stone. Good thing, eh?”

Finn furrowed his brow and bit his lip. “I—that’s not what I—” He expelled a forceful sigh. “Never mind.”

Rae rolled her eyes again. She looked up at the fluorescent lights suspended between the stained drop ceiling panels and shook her head before sliding back into the booth, across from Finn.

“Sorry for the—” she gestured to where she had been standing, hand flopping lamely at the spot she had occupied in the very recent past. “It’s just, that’s probably less embarrassing than the real reason.”

Finn looked up at her in silent puzzlement.

“Oh, for—” She fought the urge to roll her eyes again, which unfortunately meant that she sort of bugged her eyes out in Finn’s direction accusingly. “Why else does a girl get tetchy and have to go to the loo a lot?”

Finn’s eyes widened with sudden understanding.

“Yeah, exactly. So, sorry for yelling at you … and the others. Hope they aren’t too annoyed at me. See ya tomorrow, yeah?” She shifted in her seat, about to  stand up and walk away.

“Wait!” Finn nearly yelped the word, then cleared his throat. “W-why don’t … I mean, would you … take a look at this list? For the mix.”

Rae relaxed a bit, sinking back onto the molded plastic bench. “Why? Thought _you_ knew the most about music?”

Finn shook his head. “I know a lot, but you … you might know a bit yourself. And the lads don’t care; they just wanted to bring their Oasis cassettes and play ‘em the whole way there.”

Rae scoffed at that. “Even _I_ know that’s total bollocks.”

“Even …?”

“Well … I don’t exactly have a lot of concert-going experience. This’ll be, like, the first one.”

“Really?”

“Well, yeah. We don’t exactly have a lot of … disposable cash … to spend on tickets.” She looked down at her nail-bitten fingers. She didn’t want to see Finn’s look of pity.

“I’ve only been to a couple meself. Mainly me dad’s bands, really. Seen soddin’ Status Quo twice, which ain’t much to brag about …” Finn looked down at his notebook, scribbling abstract doodles up the side of the page.

Rae let out a laugh, genuinely amused at the image of a young Finn crossing his arms grumpily across his chest and suffering through a concert he didn’t care about.

Finn glanced up, smiling and huffing an embarrassed laugh himself. “Yeah, so … I’m not exactly an expert.”

“Alright, then,” Rae sighed.

Finn shifted in his seat, a look of confusion on his face.

“Hand over the list; I’ll take a look.”

“Oh!” Finn started to hand her the notebook, then pulled it back, ripped out the page, just passing that over.

Rae raised one eyebrow, curious and a little confused herself, but shook her head, focusing on the list. It looked pretty good, but it was hard to concentrate on the page. Finn was sitting right across from her, apparently waiting with bated breath to hear her opinion. That wasn’t something that happened to her. Ever. She was the girl who got left out, picked on, swept aside. But now there was this mega-fit lad sat opposite, biting his thumbnail, seeming nervous to hear _her_ verdict on _his_ choices. The irregular letters of his cramped handwriting swam before her eyes. She wanted to find something to kid him about; she couldn’t concede without some dig or jab. Squinting at the page like she wasn’t convinced was the best she could do at the moment.

Suddenly, as if he couldn’t take the silence, Finn blurted out. “Oh, yeah, don’t worry about those two Offspring tracks. I only put ‘em on there to shut Lizard up.”

Rae smirked to hide her surprised satisfaction at having unknowingly forced his hand. “Yeah, I was gonna say …” She raised both her eyebrows in mock alarm; the corner of her mouth splaying out to one side in a comic grimace. Finn’s face softened into a warm smile, and he looked down at his hands, chuckling at her reaction.

Her eyes flitted to the top of the list where the first thing he’d written was NO BABYLON ZOO. She noticed a little line drawn through “NO”.

“What’s this, Nelson?” She held up the paper and pointed an accusing finger at the top of the page. “I give you ONE suggestion, and you still try to sneak this excrement onto the first track?”

He shrugged, still smiling, and said, “Figured maybe you hadn’t given ‘em a proper chance.”

“I’m sure there’s lotsa things I haven’t given a proper chance, but fuckin’ Spaceman i’n’t one of ‘em.” The words just fell out of her mouth, and when she stopped to consider them a second later, she flushed a bit.

“Yeah?”

“Well … sure.” Rae shifted forward in her seat and handed back the list. “It’s not bad.”

Finn reached up to take the paper, the tips of his fingers brushing against hers for a tantalizing second. He scoffed, but it sounded almost cheerful. “Not bad, eh? Not … too mainstream?” A corner of his mouth curled up.

She was surprised he’d remembered that, but just crossed her arms and leaned back against the booth. “Didn’t say _that_ …”

Rae liked this. The back-and-forth. It was exciting, yet almost easy. They weren’t fighting, just … testing each other. Testing the waters, maybe.

Her next thought, however, was to worry that the longer this went on, the more likely she was to say something stupid and mess it all up.

Sneaking her arm out to grip the handle of her backpack, she rose to stand. “I should prob’ly …”

Finn stood, too, and grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair, pulling it on. “Oh, the lads went on to The Basement, I was thinkin’ I might try to catch ‘em up … did you … d’ya wanna come wi’ me?”

Rae held her breath. This time had been nice. Hopeful, even. But she remembered the look of disgusted disbelief on Chop’s face when she’d had her little outburst and thought it best to leave it for now. She’d go home and curl up with a hot water bottle and mug of tea, read another book off Mrs. Dewhurst’s pile, and relax. (Maybe replay a few moments from this unexpected encounter with Finn.) “Better not … Thanks, but I think Chop’s annoyed wi’ me. I’ll let him cool off, an’ see you … all … tomorrow, yeah?”

Finn slung his bag over his head and fidgeted with the metal ring on the strap, mumbling, “Sure, I guess.”

“Maybe you could tell him I’m still not feeling great? That I went home to get some rest, so’s I’m all ready for tomorrow, yeah?” She wanted to leave things on a positive note; didn’t want to turn up tomorrow to find they’d given her ticket to some wanker.

Finn nodded, looking up to catch her eye. “See you tomorrow, Rae.” He darted forward and caught her in a quick hug, one arm embracing her, the other hand gripped round the strap of his bag. “Hope you do feel better,” he whispered, and then before she could register what was happening, Finn was out the door and away.

Rae stood in the empty chippy, blinking at the brightness coming in the windows, stunned and buzzing with electricity. Eyes wide and smiling, she shook her head at nothing in particular, waved at Maureen behind the counter, and mouthed “Thanks” as she left, too.


End file.
